Today Was the Day I Told My Kids about My Abortion

TX Senate Bill 8 doesn’t care about the life of my kids

Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash

Today was the day I told my kids
of the abortion that allowed their existence.
How I walked a block from my apartment,
my roommate holding my hand.

I explained how I was in no fit state
to raise a child then (wondered
if they thought, silently, “or now”)
Couldn’t even pay the $300 fee.

I walked a block from my apartment
Never questioned my safety, I said.
It was not a decision I wanted to make
but the alternative was unthinkable.

Just a block from my apartment
and no one picketed outside.
No one told me I would need to wait
24 hours to make sure I thought this through.

I have never regretted the walk
and when I stood on the roof of my apartment
contemplating the distance below
it was the loss of another —
“God’s will” by some —
my thoughts returned to.

I walked that short block from my apartment
and have produced two healthy children
Especially now, with their solid forms in my arms
I know the difference between life and potential.